An interesting podcast recently suggested that without creative work, there is no true rest. Creative work generates a product or useful service and can be done in an office, home, library, or on an assembly line. Sometimes we are paid for our work but we also might be serving as a volunteer or within our family. He says that true restorative rest only occurs after a period of work – whether physical or mental.
I think the speaker is on to something. For me, true rest is satisfying only after hard work. If I have not engaged in productive activity, my so-called rest time is more restless than restful. It is unsatisfying.
If I’ve had a productive year, my week of camping is highly restorative to me. If I’ve had a day of physical hard work in the yard or house, an evening movie or book is enjoyable. When I’ve worked in the office all week, Sunday afternoon in my garden is a refreshing change of pace. God gives us a healthy pattern of work/rest in the Sabbath.
I want to be diligent in my work so that I can enjoy true rest. And I look forward to that rest so that I can bring more to the work God has given me. Let each lead to an abundance of the other, and to a satisfied soul.
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. Proverbs 13:4
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